Chabad Reaches Many New Students as Universities Begin Studies

JACKSONVILLE, FL — Over 100 College Students from throughout Jacksonville, gathered at the University of North Florida for Chabad’s second annual Kosher BBQ on the Green. The BBQ coincides with UNF’s Week Of Welcome as students, local and national, converge for the new semester.

Chabad of Southside, led by Rabbi Shmuli Novack has been an integral facilitator of Jewish life for UNF students and continues to increase and enhance its programming including weekly Shabbat Dinners, Classes, Holiday events and programming, and ongoing social get-togethers.

“A primary objective of our efforts at local universities is to foster a feeling of Jewish Pride and Identity,” said Rabbi Novack. This event was unique because area universities – Florida Coastal Law and JU in addition to UNF had an outstanding turnout. “We are now emphasizing bringing Jewish students together from the various universities – together we are quite formidable and will continue to draw big numbers to our joint events.”

The Jewish Student Union at UNF strives to provide a meeting place for Jews of all backgrounds on the UNF campus. The club has grown tremendously in both membership and programming in the past three years. “We are thrilled to be working together with Jewish organizations all over Jacksonville,” said Russell Levine, President of the JSU. “This isn’t New York–we need to work extremely hard to provide a comfortable and welcoming environment for Jews to meet each other”.

Jessica Sebag, President of Florida Coastal’s Jewish Law Student Association helped make this event so successful. “It was a great way for us to welcome new students from universities throughout Jacksonville. The event was a great success and helped us to form bonds with the other Jewish organizations around town. We look forward to many more events.”

Jewish life at universities in Jacksonville is sure to continue its great
success thanks to the joint efforts of Chabad of Southside and the student
organizations on campuses.

Russell Levine and Jessica Sebag contributed to this report